Category: Holiday

First of all I want to offer my wishes for a very Happy Holiday Season to everyone.

Once you’re back in the gardening mindset, it is time to review your garden journal from the past season and start thinking about your plans for the spring. Some thoughts might be late winter pruning, dormant season disease and pest control, and early cleanup to make way for early bloomers like Lenten Rose and Snow Crocus.

As soon as you take your Christmas decorations down you can start working on next season’s gardening plans. If you don’t have a journal from last season, all you need is a spiral notebook or a three-ring binder to start one today. Include everything you already know about your garden and everything you want your garden to be.

Join us in the New Year for all kinds of ideas and exciting times in the garden! Thanks for spending this past growing season with me and I look forward to hearing about everyone’s successes in the coming year.

It has been a while since the last post and here is why-I’ve been putting up Holiday Decorations!!!! In this post I am going to talk about how to bring the color and life and beauty of the garden inside. All it takes is some bright holiday colors festively strewn about the house and you have an amazing display.

Start by focusing on a feeling. This year I want the feeling to be reminiscent of a sparkling snow fall or the glistening of icicles. So I use a lot of icy tones-whites, silvers, glitter, and even blues because they are both warm and cool at the same time. Ribbon trimmed with silver and glitter is a big focus of the dining area. I use this ribbon in abundance around windows and to wrap the decorative garland. I use anything that sparkles or glitters to accent the garland and make it feel enchanted!

I bring the feel of garland to the dining table using clippings from a variety of evergreens for the centerpiece and forest green velvet around the chairs. The chairs are simply draped with a long piece of velvet and accented with small twirls of silver ribbon. I use blues in the centerpiece with the vase, flowers, and candlesticks. Excluding the evergreen, these are things I use all year round, and with a little change in accent they become a vibrant holiday decoration.

With the tree being such a large part of the display I choose white lights to perpetuate that dazzle into the living room. The tree is like a specimen plant in a garden, the focal point of beauty and awe, it carries much of the feel of the holiday. The accents in the room are garnet year round so I incorporate red, silver, and gold ribbon with green velvet. Add evergreen cuttings and some holiday themed items and a winter wonderland of sorts is created!

I put holiday pictures in my frames on the mantel, I choose crisp or sparkling ones to add to the theme, and of course hang the stockings with care…add a few rich accents to the mantle like green velvet lining, small silk arrangements, and traditional holiday poppers…and if you have your shopping done wrap presents in striking holiday paper. I use the shiniest bows and bags I can find to make the presents almost come alive.

Using the same ideas I twirl ribbon around the kitchen too. The very large picture on the wall calls for something extravagant so bright red ribbon, this time accented with gold, adorns the frame, mixed with a patterned green to complete the holiday tones. If you look through the house from the kitchen you can see the decorations carried through all the rooms. Decorations can be practical too. Instead of putting holiday towels in a drawer use them to liven up the room.

Any fixture or picture can be the bearer of a splash of holiday color with ribbons draped or wrapped around them. And remember the mistletoe! Put it in a prominent place for the most use! I draw attention to my mistletoe with a hefty ribbon adornment from the light fixture to liven up the entry way. As soon as one walks into the house they feel they are whisked off to a holiday dream.

Hope these ideas are interesting, exciting, and helpful in keeping that creative spirit alive even though we are using it inside at this time of year. Tell me your holiday ideas and I will be happy to share them, I appreciate all comments and suggestions.